President Trump to expand policy defunding International Planned Parenthood

President Donald Trump will expand an executive order he signed in January to defund Planned Parenthood’s international arm and Marie Stopes International. The Mexico City Policy prohibits nongovernmental international groups that commit or actively promote abortions overseas from receiving family planning funding; however, it does not halt humanitarian aid or health care services.

A White House official told CBN News that the Trump administration plans to announce the “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” policy Monday, which appropriates $8.8 billion through federal agencies and departments. The funding would go towards organizations that comply with the Mexico City Policy.

“The pro-life policy will apply to global health assistance funding for international health programs, such as those for HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, malaria, global health security, and family planning and reproductive health,” a White House official told “The Brody File.”

The move would be an even stronger pro-life step than President George W. Bush, who reinstated the Mexico City Policy in 2011. His successor, Barack Obama, rescinded it during his first week in the White House.

The Mexico City Policy was implemented by President Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Live Action President Lila Rose released the following statement:

The American people are very generous when it comes to helping those in need around the world, and it is crucial that aid programs we partner with respect basic human rights. If international health organizations want American taxpayer support, they must choose to provide health care over committing and promoting abortions. Abortion is not health care; it’s the deliberate destruction of innocent human life.

The federal funding for international aid remains the same. If foreign health organizations choose not to comply with these pro-life protections, the funds will be given to other organizations that do.

We appreciate President Trump expanding this policy to end all taxpayer subsidies to international groups that commit and promote abortions, like the international arm of Planned Parenthood.

Now that the president has put a stop to our tax dollars subsidizing foreign abortion providers and promoters, it’s time for Congress to finish the job here in the United States and stop the hundreds of millions of tax dollars going to the biggest abortion chain in America, Planned Parenthood. The federal government’s most important duty is to protect human life, so it is unthinkable that our tax dollars fund a corporation that destroys the lives of over 320,000 preborn children each year right here at home.